A Night to Forget
by RedRosesandMarigolds
Summary: Set after the infamous "Tent Scene" in "The Southern Raiders". Sokka and Suki have decided to take the plunge, but Zuko's interruption sets the tone for the rest of the evening - and that's not to mention what the others think! Mild smut.


**This is, as you will probably guess, an expansion of the infamous tent scene in "The Southern Raiders". This is not a lemon, it is a story with sexual content. But knowing Sokka's luck, it could easily have turned out this way. Hopefully, I have Suki suitably IC, please tell me if anything jars. And since I still haven't made any money out of the miracle that is Avatar, I'm going to assume I don't own it. Right - I've babbled on enough, now it's over to Sokka and Suki and all the rest.**

* * *

Suki had her head sticking out of her tent when Zuko came past, looking very shaken. She hastily put on her biggest grin and gave him a cheery wave. Which was followed by a thumbs up. And another wave. She kept on at it, with Zuko looking at her as though he were worried for her sanity, until eventually, she waved him on and sagged with relief. She counted to twenty, the continued on to fifty - better safe than sorry, after all - just to give him time to drop off, before she took a deep breath, did a couple of simple breathing exercises designed in her youth to calm the stereotypical red-headed temper, smoothed her tunic out - although she wondered why, for she was sharp enough to know that it would be coming off soon - and headed over to Sokka's tent.

"F**k off, Katara!" came the irritated voice of her boyfriend, and she stuck her head in and called softly to him.

"Oh, sorry, Suki!" Sokka looked mortified. "It's just that Katara's been in twice already, and one time she brought Toph. _Toph!_ "

"Oh, no!" Suki was not happy to know that their cover had been blown. "We could have got away with it!"

Sokka laughed just the right amount, of which he was proud and, gaining in confidence slightly, reached into his brain for one of the suave invitations to disrobe that he had thought up earlier, but none came. He tried to guide her using his hands - perhaps start at the waist, and then cup her breasts, but his hand, refusing to obey his command, fluttered weakly in his lap, his confidence failing him. He tried the words again, but all that came out was "So...um..."

"Zuko knows." Suki finished, and the two toppled gently into a pool of awkward giggles. They laughed for a minute or two, but then, as the giggles were dying down, Sokka gave a strange, ungainly kind of snort, almost exactly like an angry hog-monkey, which caused Suki to collapse onto her boyfriend's bed-roll and bury her shrieks of mirth in his sleeping-bag. Sokka watched her for a minute, his manly pride offended, then saw the funny side of it and rolled on top of her to join in. Eventually, the giggles petered out, and the two were left sitting there staring at each other. A strange, drunken snicker, and so Sokka found himself spiralling back off into a spasmodic fit of snorts. Fortunately, this only lasted a minute, but this set Suki off as well. Sokka found her one embarrassed little titter wildly hilarious, and so it continued.

Ten minutes later, the two were sitting opposite one another. Both had their hands clamped firmly over their mouths, but their eyes were wide with repressed laughter. Eventually, Suki took several deep breaths and removed her hand, perfectly calm. She put a finger to her boyfriend's lips and gently shushed him until he shook off the urge to laugh, too.

After this encouraging bit of progress, however, they were dismayed to have Katara stick her head in. "Are you two about done? None of us can sleep for your laughing!"

"Sorry, Katara." Suki placated her, but this was counteracted by Sokka making a rude gesture at her. Katara made a noise of disgust and backed hastily out.

"So...err...do you know what you're doing?" Sokka asked at length.

"The village nurse explained the mechanics when I turned thirteen." Suki told him. "So, yeah. What about you?"

"Don't really know." Sokka thought back. "I suppose I kind of picked it up from all Gran-Gran's medical stuff. Do you know how to...well...start it off?"

"No idea." Suki replied merrily. She frowned for a moment, her pleasant face crumpling up in thought. "We could try...this." she said and, heading for familiar territory, leaned forwards and kissed Sokka sweetly on the lips. She sighed, a feeling of contentment drifting over her as Sokka's hands found her waist, pulling her in close. She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew away. Sokka was looking at her strangely.

"So...err...do you want to..." He was interrupted by Suki's lips once more on his. She tightened her hold, clasping him fiercely. He cupped her cheek, and then reached lower on her body. Quick as a whip, Suki grabbed his wrist.

"Come on, Suki..." Sokka implored. He was curious, and wanted to get started quickly.

"Sokka..." Suki felt a flicker of irritation shoot through her. It was gone in a flash, however, and she saw the whole embarrassing affair from his perspective. "You're a boy. This is your first time. You want to get off soon." She rested her hands on his shoulders and smiled encouragingly. "Think about it. We have all night. Let's just keep making out and I'm sure things'll heat up soon enough." Sokka kissed her this time, gently pressing against her lips. She nipped his bottom lip, and gently pushed them apart. She had the bizarre urge to put her tongue in his mouth, which she bowed to. Sokka drew away, eyes wide with surprise and thoroughly startled.

"Sorry. I don't know where that came from."

"It was...weird."

"Sorry." Suki apologised and kissed him again. She turned her head to deepen the kiss, and one of his hands came up to tangle in her hair. She hummed softly, and arched her back as his hand closed into a fist. She gently pushed him down onto his bed-roll and began to tug on his top. It was her favourite of his, as it was sleeveless, and Suki did have a weakness for Sokka's reasonable muscles. He reached round to the tie fastening it, but Suki slapped his hand away and took it off herself. She took a moment to admire his chest, which was as to be expected considering the size of his arms. In her mind, she was placing sweet, hot kisses along his torso, starting at one shoulder and working gradually down to his stomach and along his arms, but in reality, she just flopped down on top of him and put her arms around his neck, closing her eyes and enjoying the feel of his tough skin against her cheek and mostly-bare arms. Sokka put his arms up around her back and squeezed tightly. Cuddles. Nice.

She placed a kiss on the join between his neck and his shoulder, and he gave an odd sort of squeak and began to tug urgently on the belt around her tunic. She got up so that she could untie it herself, and she, still with one leg in between his, pulled her tunic over her head. Sokka's eyes widened and he made an odd sort of spluttering sound, and Suki giggled. Sex was hilarious.

Suki kicked her shoes off and removed her trousers as well. She shivered in the cold air and then it dawned on her: she was in her boyfriend's tent...at night, while everyone else (hopefully) slept...dressed in only her bindings...while Sokka lay on his bed-roll, gazing up at her wide-eyed...and they were about to make love. The thought sent a thrill straight through her body, coming to pool at the area between her thighs. She inhaled sharply, and let out a strange kind of humming noise. If Sokka's eyes grew any wider, Suki was quite sure that they would fall out of his head.

 _But here I go anyway,_ she thought, and began to unwrap her breasts from their modest bindings. Sokka made a strange kind of strangled cross between a gasp and a cry, and Suki giggled modestly. She did not exactly fill out her baggy prison tunic, but Sokka didn't seem to mind. She ducked down once again and put her arms around his neck, snuggling close and entwining her strong legs with his. She heard her boyfriend's breath pick up, and felt the gentle pressure of his fingertips on the side of her bare breast.

Deciding that she'd done enough stripping, she reached out and began to pull down his underpants, but a sudden fear of what was underneath gripped her and she stopped. Sokka took a deep breath and completed their removal, bracing himself. Suki gave a sharp intake of breath and reached out to touch, but once again her courage failed her and she gave an awkward giggle as she withdrew her hand. Sokka gave her an encouraging smile and a nod, and she used the resolve this gave her to remove her own bottom bindings, so that both were completely naked.

Once more, they stared at each other for a very long time. They did not even allow their eyes to roam over the other's body, but instead simply held eye contact, not blinking and not speaking. "Well..." Suki said at length. "That took a while. I thought we'd be finished by now."

Sokka sniggered awkwardly. "Errr...well...I guess..." Unable to think of something suave to say, Sokka just admitted it: "I'm nervous, OK. I've never been anywhere near this far with a girl before."

"That's OK." Suki said, laying a hand on his arm. "Remember I'm new to this too."

Sokka shook his head and just smiled stupidly up at her. She returned the grin, then neatly flipped him over, both hands pinned behind his back.

"Hey!" he demanded. "What was that for?"

"Want to spar?" Suki asked. "Doing something familiar and fun will help us both to relax - I think it works that way, anyway."

"Err...OK." Sokka agreed, and the next thing he knew, Suki had pinned his arms above his head and was straddling his waist, a triumphant gleam in her violet eyes.

"Well...that was easy." she grinned, and as she shifted, Sokka saw an opening. He turned her over, and she used his force to propel herself back on top of him. He kicked at her, but his efforts were futile and she only moved down his body to sit on his legs. He pulled her down on top of him and rolled over and it was through some bizarre wrestling move that Suki flipped over and left herself face-down on Sokka's bed-roll with him on top of her. Sokka wasn't entirely sure what happened next, but one minute he was running his hand along her side to try and flip her back over, and next, his fingers were buried fathoms-deep in the yielding flesh of her breast. Suki made a soft growling sound deep in the back of her throat, and it was this sound that shoved both the hardened warrior and the smooth lover to one side, and awoke the teenage boy.

"Mmmm..." he murmured with vague interest. "So soft."

"So I have something soft... You have something hard." Suki grinned wickedly and, greatly daring, reached down and wrapped her fingers around Sokka's throbbing arousal. Sokka looked down and went an interesting shade of purple in his embarrassment.

"GAAAAAAAH!"

" _Sokka!_ " Suki hissed, clamping a hand over her boyfriend's mouth. "You'll wake everybody! Who cares if you're hard - that's the point!" She began to slide her hand along, and Sokka let out a strangled squawk. Suki put her hand once more over his mouth and continued her ministrations. She watched as his eyes grew wider and the muffled sounds became more and more frequent, she slowed down, before she stopped altogether; she didn't want him to finish up before anything happened for her. While the village nurse back on Kyoshi Island had been giving her talk, Suki, embarrassed to be seen listening to such a talk, had been sitting, bright red in the face, retching into her hand, and thinking that she would never have a boyfriend, and so she would never need the information the nurse was imparting, but now, she was grateful, for she knew not only what to do to please Sokka, but also a couple of things that ought to please her.

"Sukiiiiiiii..." Sokka sighed petulantly, but she shook her head.

"No - I know a thing or two, too, so you just do what I say."

Sokka gulped. "Yes, Ma'am."

Suki grinned, then took his hand and guided it to her own privates. His fingers flexed for a moment, before he reached across the final inch and touched. Suki gasped and choked down the moan. It was no wonder Sokka had been straining under her hand, she thought, if he felt like this. Sokka rubbed his fingers over the skin between her legs, and Suki, exerting all her control, did not allow herself to make any more noise than a succession of sharp gasps. Sokka's fingers found her opening and tentatively slid inside. Suki gasped, more vehemently this time. Ouch. But an intriguing "ouch". When Sokka looked up, a question in his eyes, she nodded, motioning for him to go on. She knew that there was some kind of bump or something outside the...thing...that was supposed to give her pleasure, but she hadn't the first idea where it was. On instinct, she reached down, trying to find it herself. At last, her fingers brushed over something, and she almost jumped out of her skin. Sokka looked up, followed her fingers, and Suki lay back and let him do the work.

* * *

Toph turned over yet again. She was beginning to get heartily sick of the harsh vibrations coming from Sokka's tent, and, perhaps for the first time in her life, she cursed her unique way of "seeing" and her inability to look away. She considered sending up a pillar in their tent to knock them over, but sleep tugged at her eyes and she felt just too lethargic. So, instead, she got up and left her tent, sitting by the fire pit in hopes that the fresh air might lull her to sleep in spite of the...disturbances.

Zuko was also having difficulty sleeping. His mind kept going back to Sokka, and he rained curse after curse on Suki's head for not claiming Sokka's attention as hers for the night. His question could have waited. And now he had seen what never could be unseen. He was quite sure that he was...what was the phrase?...scarred for life. Metaphorically, of course. That had already happened to him literally, thank you very much. It was, he was certain, quite the most embarrassed he had ever been, even more so than when Lieutenant Jee had found him lying on his bed at the tender age of thirteen, touching himself and moaning Mai's name. Well...even at thirteen, Mai had been very pretty. Giving up on sleep, he too went to sit by the fire pit.

"Hey, Toph." He was only half-surprised when he saw his young friend already there. He knew of her and her "sight". Poor lass.

"Hey, Angry Guy." she replied, moving up on her log so that he could sit next to her. "They keeping you awake, too?"

Zuko nodded ruefully.

"I can hear Suki telling him to be quiet." A grin spread over Toph's face. "Boy, I can't wait to get my revenge in the morning." Zuko smiled awkwardly, trying not to think about what form this revenge would take. The two sat in silence for a while, until eventually, they were joined by their other friends: first Katara then, about ten minutes later, Aang.

"Hey, everyone." he said sleepily. "What's that noise?"

"Dying animal noise?" asked Toph. "That's Sokka."

Aang frowned. "Why would Sokka be making that noise? Does he sleepwalk or something?"

"He isn't asleep." Zuko put in, scratching the back of his head.

Aang looked at him through surprised, widened eyes. "So what _is_ he doing? Shall I wake Suki and see if she can help?"

Zuko turned a similar red to the ratty old top he wore to bed. "She isn't asleep either. She's in there with him."

"Is he trying to make her laugh or something? I mean, we all know Sokka's sense of humour-"

"Do you, Twinkletoes" Toph cut across him. Katara, knowing what was coming, also blushed. That was not something she wanted to think of her brother doing. "know where babies come from?"

Aang's eyes widened even more in surprise. "Of course. The Spirits leave them on people's doorsteps at night. Everyone knows _that._ Don't they?" He noticed the other three looking askance at him.

"You've got a lot to learn, Twinkletoes." Toph said to him. "And I'm the one to teach it. What do you other two know?"

Katara pulled awkwardly at the grass. "Gran Gran told us everything when we were younger. Sokka didn't seem to care at the time." Her cheeks went red.

"And what about you, Sparky?" Toph turned to Zuko, who blushed. "Err.. I know the idea."

"Have you ever put it into practice? You're sixteen and you were on a ship for three years. You must have done."

Zuko turned a brighter red. "N...no!"

"You're lying!"

"OK, fine, I have!" He folded his arms across his chest and looked even more sullen than usual. However, he couldn't resist adding, with just the barest hint of pride: "Twice."

Toph sniggered, Katara's eyes widened, and Aang looked at them both in confusion. "What is there to do? You just wait, don't you? And Zuko - you aren't married. _Are_ you?" The way the last sentence was inflected, with more than a hint of disbelieving incredulity, set Toph off again, and she rolled around in the dirt, clutching her sides with her three friends looking at her.

"Do you know, Twinkletoes" she asked, once she had regained control of herself, "about the...changes you've been going through?"

"Err...yeah." Aang replied. "They've...well...been happening. They're a bit difficult to miss."

"But do you know why they happen?" Toph persisted.

"No." replied Aang, now feeling very stupid.

Toph's face lit up in a grin that all of them had come to dread. "Well, listen up, Twinkletoes, because this'll be the most interesting talk you've ever had! It takes a man and a woman to make a baby." Katara went red and buried her face in her hands, and Zuko had an expression of great trepidation on his face. Toph ignored them both and ploughed on. "Does the word "sex" mean anything to you?"

Aang shook his head, a gesture echoed by Katara. "This won't end well, will it?" Zuko murmured to her, and she gave him the most contemptuous look she could manage.

"So," Toph began, with the air of a schoolteacher, hands folded demurely in her lap. "men have penises - essentially a floppy stick - and women have vaginas - a hole. When two people like each other a lot, they get into some bed somewhere, take all their clothes off, touch each other's privates, the man's penis gets erect, he sticks it into the woman's vagina, pumps it in and out for a bit, he has an orgasm, which is essentially what they've both been waiting for, he squirts stuff out of the end of his penis, all these little cell-type things come and fuse with a cell in the woman, and that all just grows into a baby. The woman can have an orgasm too but doesn't because men are pretty rubbish like that. It's also supposed to feel good or something. To me it just sounds messy and disgusting. Oh, and there's also some bullsh*t about not doing it before you're married, but no-one ever listens to that. I'd say that's all you need to know." She folded her arms smartly. Aang blinked, stunned. He tried not to think about doing...whatever Toph had just described...with Katara. It all sounded a bit weird and confusing. Katara broke out into a bout of nervous giggles, a sound which Zuko echoed. He was scratching the back of his head again.

"So that's what Sokka and Suki are doing?" asked Aang. Behind him, he heard Katara retch.

"Yup." replied Toph, before adding ruefully: "and I can feel every vibration and hear every word they're saying to each other. It's not pretty."

"Why?" asked Aang. He couldn't imagine why anyone would want to do something so odd, even if it was supposed to "feel good".

"There are these things called hormones." Zuko told him. "They control your emotions. They really mess you about when you're a teenager. Make you want it all the time."

"Of course, if you can control yourself, it should be easy." Katara said, with a venomous look thrown Zuko's way. "Only real idiots would find themselves having it as an unmarried teenager."

Zuko attempted to stare her down, but she met his gaze head-on. Aang looked anxiously from one to the other, their faces illuminated only by the pale blue moonlight.

"Who with?" demanded Toph, to break the silence.

"Mai." Zuko murmured. He didn't like admitting that either one of them could sufficiently lose their control to submit to base desires, but it was better that they knew it was with Mai than assuming that it was some unknown girl he'd met when his ship docked. "My girlfriend. Both times." Then he stopped thinking about her, for it was painful to remember her, and to consider her current position, locked up in a cell on his account. "But it isn't any of your business!"

Toph seemed unconcerned by his sudden change of tone. "You had a girlfriend?"

"Yeah. Sokka knew. He asked. He must have told you it was her who saved us at the Boiling Rock."

"You did seem very quiet when you got back." Katara said, her tone softening. She felt a glimmer of sympathy for him, then stopped herself immediately. This was Zuko. _Zuko._

"The gloomy bored one?" Toph was not letting her friend off that easily. "Yeah, she seems your type."

Aang was still processing the information Toph had imparted. Now, he stood up and cast a suspicious eye over at Sokka's tent as a shriek rose into the sky. "I think I need to go jump in the sea." he said vaguely, and walked off. "After all, it should be nice and cold this time of night."

* * *

Sokka and Suki lay side by side on Sokka's bed-roll, panting and satisfied. The final part of their evening had gone relatively smoothly, with only Sokka's protests at Suki going on top to ruin the mood. Now, they were both tired and messy, but they didn't care. There was a basinful of water in one corner of the tent, and they could use that to clean themselves off in the morning. For now, they just wanted to cuddle and sleep.

"That was great!" beamed Sokka. "I love you, Suki." He stroked her messy hair along her head, giving her a lovesick smile as he did so.

"I love you too, Sokka." murmured his girlfriend sleepily. "We'll have to do that again sometime."

Sokka suddenly sat bolt upright as a thought occurred to him. "Just imagine when we're married! We'll have a whole house to ourselves! We can do it whenever, _wherever_ we like!"

Suki pulled him back down next to her. "But we'll have to be careful once we've got kids." She looked at him sleepily out of one half-closed violet eye. "Still, they'll leave home."

Sokka considered. "We'll both be old and wrinkly then." With which unromantic statement, he snuggled down and nodded off.

* * *

None of the six got much sleep that night. After two hours, the Sun rose, and Zuko with it. Aang, Katara, and Toph joined him several minutes later. Zuko and Aang lit the fire, both eager, for different reasons, to get into Katara's good graces, and soon, there was a delicious-smelling breakfast cooking.

"Our two lovebirds are getting up." said Toph through a mouthful of stewed mango, once they had been eating for about ten minutes. "About time. I've been up all night planning my revenge."

"What arecyou going to do?" asked Aang.

Toph grinned. "Every rock they sit on this week is going to throw them three feet into the air." Toph replied. "And I'm considering throwing dirt into their mouths whenever they speak."

 _Ouch._ thought Zuko. _Don't cross Toph._

Not long after that, Sokka and Suki came into view, arms around each other. They sat down, and Sokka immediately started shovelling breakfast down his throat. After a while, he registered four sets of hostile eyes on him.

"What?" he asked, then, thinking he knew: "Thanks, Katara."

"Last night, that's what!" snapped Toph. Sokka and Suki looked at each other.

"Do you have any idea how much _noise_ you were making?" demanded Katara. "You kept us all awake!"

"And, thanks to you, I had to give the details of my personal relationships!" added Zuko, who had decided to blame these two for the attack to his dignity.

"You...heard?" said Suki weakly.

Four scowls deepened.

"Oh _no_!" Suki reddened slowly, gradually, her blush heightening until she was roughly the same colour as her prison uniform, the red of her face clashing nicely with the red of her hair. They didn't get to see Sokka's reaction. Instantly, he was on his feet, running. They watched him go, over the slope, across the campsite to dive back into his tent.

Four little giggles became fully-fledged roars of laugher. Eventually, Suki laughed too.

* * *

 **So, that was "A Night to Forget". Hopefully, it was funny. The completion of this marks the end of my little break from "The Long Journey Home", and you'll have Chapter Five before you can say "Yip, yip!"**


End file.
